Comment by rhapsodic | Hacker News Reader

Comment by rhapsodic | Hacker News Reader

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> It lets you take your foot off the clutch ;)

If that's what you like, go for it, but two posts seemed to imply that I'm doing something wrong by keeping the vehicle in gear with the clutch in while stopped in traffic, and I'd really like to know what that is. One post implied that UK law encourages or even requires that the vehicle be taken out of gear when it's stopped in traffic. I've never heard anything like that in the US.

I've never encountered a clutch that took any noticeable effort for me to operate. And, considering all of the other bearings in a vehicle that are rotating under load constantly, I question the value of trying to save the throwout bearing a few extra seconds on each stop.

So I would really like to know why I should shift to neutral when stopped in traffic. Should I do it when I'm waiting for a break in the traffic in the oncoming lane so I can turn across it? (A left turn in the US.) When I'm stopping at a stop sign, and then immediately going because there is no other traffic around? When I'm stopped for a few seconds in a stop-and-go traffic jam?

As a UK driver, I was taught to shift to neutral and apply the parking brake when stopped for long enough to do so.

The reasoning given by my driving instructor was that this secures the vehicle and makes things just a little more safe for everyone.

If I am stopped in traffic with my parking brake on and sometime lightly rear-ends me, my vehicle may not move at all. If my parking brake were not applied, the probability of my vehicle not moving at all drops significantly.

If I am rear-ended without the parking brake applied such that my vehicle rear-ends someone in-front of me, I am partially responsible for the damage caused ahead due to my failure to secure my vehicle.

This is only tangentially related to taking my foot of the clutch. I depress the clutch in order to apply the parking brake correctly. Once the parking brake is applied, I simply have no need to continue to depress the clutch.

It takes me very little time to apply the parking brake and then release it and so I tend to do so when stopping for more than a second or two.

And many newer cars will stop the engine if you stop the car with the clutch up. And also can activate the parking break at the same time.

Many newer cars don't have a manual clutch anymore, so the brake is the only reasonable way. Idle only will typically coast in those. Parking gear/brake will work but is annoying to use - and it is better to use the foot brake anyway most of the time.

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